Hyundai to make India sales first priority, roll out new models

SummaryHyundai Motor India said that its $300-million, 3-lakh-units-per-annum engine plant will go on stream by 2013-end and the company hopes to end the year with total sales of 6.5 lakh units against 6.41 lakh units reported in CY12.

Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) said that its $300-million, 3-lakh-units-per-annum engine plant will go on stream by 2013-end and the company hopes to end the year with total sales of 6.5 lakh units against 6.41 lakh units reported in CY12.

Though the projection is moderate, the company, which registered a 4% growth in domestic sales during 2012, hopes to take it forward to 6% in CY13 with greater thrust on the domestic market, coupled with the launch of 2-3 products during the year, said Bo Shin Seo, managing director and CEO, HMIL.

Seo said: “Though numbers matter, Hyundai globally believes that quality and brand will take it to new levels; Indian customers, too, are looking for the same.”

He added: “Our domestic sales and export ratio has reversed from 40:60 two years ago to 60:40. Though exports are inevitable and important, our focus will be more on the Indian market and we hope to reduce the exports further going forward with a slew of launches over the next few years.”

R Sethuraman, director (finance and corporate affairs), said: “We can meet the rising demand of both the domestic and export markets. We can produce 6.7 lakh units now and with debottlenecking, the production can be further increased to 7 lakh units. If we feel pressure, we have plants across the globe to meet part of our export obligations.”

To a question on the new plant, Sethuraman said: “We have no plans for a new plant at this point of time, at least for the next two years. We feel comfortable and Hyundai has enough capacity to meet both the domestic and export markets.”